Dodgers pitcher Kenley Jansen was named the first repeat winner of the National League’s Trevor Hoffman Award, given to the top reliever in the National League. He also got to meet Yankees great Mariano Rivera, the relief pitcher with whom he is most often compared. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

HOUSTON — The hours before Game 4 of the World Series wasn’t the time to compare cutters. But Kenley Jansen is getting closer to the man with whom he is often linked.

Yankees great Mariano Rivera took part in the pregame ceremony Saturday as Jansen was named the first repeat winner of the National League’s Trevor Hoffman Award given to the top reliever in the National League. Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel was named the American League winner of the Mariano Rivera Award.

“I have a lot of respect for both of them. Like I said, they’re the two greatest,” Jansen said of Hoffman and Rivera. “Just to meet Mariano. I mean, I have a pitch that Mike Borzello who used to be his bullpen coach told me, he said, ‘You have one pitch just like Mo.’ And that’s when I started to believe … all right, how good can I be with this pitch? And I started to manipulate it a little bit and get better, and one day I’m like, you know, I want to meet Mo just to pick his brain, and see how he goes about the hitters and all that stuff and just life.”

Rivera used his – and Jansen’s – trademark pitch, a cut fastball, to become baseball’s all-time saves leader and a certain Hall of Famer. He returned the compliments Saturday, telling Jansen “it’s a privilege to be in your presence,” prompting Jansen to grin like a little boy. A minute later an actual little boy – Jansen’s son, Kaden – climbed up on Jansen’s lap for the broadcast of the news conference.

Jansen’s 41 regular-season saves tied Colorado Rockies closer Greg Holland for the National League lead. Jansen edged Holland in earned-run average (1.32) and WHIP (0.75), and his 109 strikeouts in 68-1/3 innings made him among the most dominant pitchers in baseball. He did not walk a batter until June 25 – his 31st appearance of the regular season.

Earlier this postseason, Jansen talked about his desire to meet Rivera after hearing the comparisons for so many years. Rivera said he didn’t know what he had to offer Jansen, who has already recorded 230 saves in eight seasons with the Dodgers.

“I don’t think Kenley needs any advice,” Rivera said in Spanish. “He’s been a great pitcher, has won the respect among his peers. Not much to say.”

GAME FIVE

Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw will start again Sunday looking to replicate the best start of his postseason career. He held the Astros to one run on three hits while striking out 11 in seven innings of Game 1.

That start went a long way toward erasing the dwindling number of critics who cite Kershaw’s postseason failures as a stain on his outstanding career. Astros manager A.J. Hinch thinks there is a rush to slap a label on a player and once it’s there it’s difficult to remove.

“In our game you can get pegged a lot of things,” Hinch said. “You hope over time, whether it’s good or bad, you can either strengthen it or reverse it, if things aren’t going well for you. And I think in a lot of ways you’re judged in this game quickly. No more easing into the big leagues as a young player. If you don’t contribute right away, you’re overhyped or you’re not a prospect and you need to go down to the minor leagues. Trust me, you lose a couple games as a first-time manager, that doesn’t go very well either until you win.

“So guys like Kershaw, who have excelled every single step of the way, are going to beat it over time. Everybody believes in that. You believe that player has the capabilities of doing it. When they do it, I don’t love that it was done against us, if this is now when you’re going to rip that tag off. But I appreciate the journey that those guys had to take. Sometimes the narrative doesn’t fit the fact.”

RELIEF DUTY

Despite having to use his bullpen for 13-1/3 innings in Games 2 and 3, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said “everybody is fine” and only right-hander Kenta Maeda was unavailable for Game 4.

Maeda threw 42 pitches over 2-2/3 innings in Game 3, the most he has thrown since going three innings in a start on Sept. 21. But Roberts said he thought one day off would be enough for Maeda to bounce back and be available as “a multi-inning guy if we need him.”

After the game Friday, Maeda said “I have experienced a lot of new things as a relief pitcher” and this would just be another one. The Japanese right-hander had never pitched in relief before this season.

Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.

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